CDMA450 Upgrade Completed in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan's Uzbek Mobile has completed a US$6.6 million upgrade of its CDMA450 network, Uzmobile's technical director Galina Gafurbekova told the Interfax news agency. The infrastructure, consisting of 70 base stations was supplied by China's Huawei.

"We have test-launched a CDMA-450 network in nine regions. Now that this project has been completed we can provide the whole of Uzbekistan with mobile phone services," Gafurbekova said.

Funding for the deployment was split between the mobile operator and the Chinese Bank for Development.

The operator has a second expansion phase worth US$2 million - with kit being supplied by Alcatel Lucent.

According to estimates from the Mobile World, Uzmobile ended the first quarter of this year with around 20,000 subscribers - representing a market share of just a third of a percentage point.

Posted to the site on 9th July 2008